Old Tucson Film Studios

To get here we drove through the Tucson Mountain Park on curvy, up and down roads just like a roller coaster. This place is so cool. Erected in 1939, this replica of 1860s Tucson was the location for more than 350 films and TV shows and is still in use today. We saw the gunfight in front of the old hotel, watched the show in the old Playhouse of the music from many films and saw a John Wayne tribute. We took a train ride around the entire area, passing an old train and a wagon like the ones the early pioneers used to come out west. I even stood in a coffin outside U.S. Marshall's office with 2 gunslingers beside me, next to the gallows. There was something going on at all times.

A Day in Rincon West

This is one of the nicest parks we're ever been in. Every single person you go past, greets you and smiles. Every room you go into, someone welcomes you, tells what's going on and invites you to join in. There are too many activities to list. There is a Railroad Garden where the railroad buffs run their trains daily. It is a delight to see the dear old engineers in their railroad caps with their remotes in their hands and 7 trains going around the tracks. It's a beautiful set-up.

Colossal Cave Mountain Park

We went to this beautiful 2,400 acre desert park today on the Old Spanish Trail. I took the tour of the crystal filled Cave, climbing up and down, around rocks, past stalagmites and strange formations, into several 'rooms' and past fault lines. There were many different formations and some small spaces to squeeze through. This is considered by some as the world's largest 'dry cavern'.
The Hohokam Indians sheltered here and in the 1853, outlaws hid out after robbing the Southern Pacific Railway of $62,000 of gold. Didn't see any.

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun

We had a really nice visit with Nikki and Bill today and walked over to this studio. It is on a 10 acre foothills retreat at the base of the Catalina Mtns. It is an adobe complex with floors of cactus rounds, stone, brick and concrete. This acclaimed Arizona artist uses many bright colours and has a south western/Mexican style. I loved his work. His studio was re-enacted with a bottle of Chivas Regal by his easel. There was an outdoor chapel with a cross of the roof and a door made of saguaro cactus spines. It was pleasant wandering through the cactus garden with different sculptures and stars placed everywhere.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

This active Franciscan mission located on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation has been dubbed the 'Sistine Chapel of North America'. It was originally founded by a Spanish Jesuit Father Kino before 1700. Called the 'White Dove of the Desert', the structure is an impressive example of Spanish Colonial Mission architecture of the 18th century with domes, carvings, arches and flying buttresses. The walls and ceilings of the church are a classroom of religion and a feast for the eyes. St Francis Xavier is above the alter, Mary is in a side cove and St. Xavier depicted at his burial. Old doors and entrance latch are original. The church pews are smaller and have a scalloped wood back. there is a large cross on the hill above the mission seen through the arched wall. The Indian cemetery is just down the road. Through the arch in the courtyard you can see the cross up on the hill.
It sits on 14 acres deeded to the Roman Catholic diocese in an original grant signed by President Taft in 1910. You must remember that these 30,000 acres of New Mexico and Arizona was bought by paying the Mexican government $10 million in 1853 in the Gadsen Purchase to originally construct a transcontinental railway and make this area a part of the United States.

Historic Low Temperatures

Must have been our lucky day - the temp went down to 17 F / -8 C overnight. Could not believe it, simply freezing, it was warmer in Canada. Of course the hose from RV to the pipe was frozen solid so no water, thank heavens for the tank and pump. The park didn't shut off the fountain so that was frozen almost solid with the water still gurgling out. This was the coldest Feb. 3 here since 1910.

One of the 50 Wonders of the World

We arrived in Tucson Tuesday and are at Rincon East for a week. We saw the Catalina State Park today which sits at the base of the majestic Santa Catlaina Mountains. The 5,500 acres of foothills, canyons and streams are a haven for plants and wildlife and its nearly 5000 saguaros.
Then we went to Bioshere 2, number 1 being earth. Time Life rates it a must-see wonder. You go through an airlock door into this glass and steel structure that encompasses 3 acres and 5 biomes: rain forest, ocean, savanna, desert and mango marsh. This learning, teaching and research center is determining an ecosystem's ability to recycle air, water and nutrients in order to sustain human, plant and animal life. Run by the University of Arizona, Human Mission 1, a group of 8 lived here 2 years, 1991 - 1993. We toured their living and cooking quarters. The Biosphere has 6,500 windows, 7,200,00 cubic feet of sealed glass, is 90' high and 3.14 acres large. We went down the Lung Tunnel to see the Desert Basement with the technology to manage this facility. Coming out of the air lock door you nearly get blown away.